A Frozen Flower – Review August 24, 2009

Wow! They don’t make movies like this in the U.S., thats for sure. This movie tackles a topic so taboo I don’t think a domestic mainstream movie containing this topics will ever exist in the next 20 years. A Frozen Flower is about a relationship between two men which slowly turns into a triangle of jealousy with an addition of a woman. The film recounts the fictional tale of a King during Korea’s Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392). In order to keep the throne the King needs to produce a son. With him being a homosexual, this is particularly difficult, wouldn’t you say? So, he instead enlists his childhood friend, who is also his lover, to sleep with the Queen and produce an offspring on his behalf. I think you can see where this is going.

For those manly men who will immediately be turned off by this films content, I want to point out that only one sequence explicitly shows the king and his friend getting it on; there’s much more passionate action on the other side of the triangle with the woman involved. Also, the action, when it erupts, is tightly choreographed and highly visceral. Thats all aside, and the love triangle established, the plot sprints ahead with a portrayal of the uncontrollable anger and jealousy of the king, leaving heads rolling in the process.

Director Yoo uses the act of physical love as a means for the characters to connect with each other. I don’t use a rating system here but it should be noted that this is not a film for kids. This film has nudity, violent swordplay and shocking torture, which further adds to the tension and helps to keep things entertaining. The film itself is gorgeous. Stunning cinematography, well-choreographed fight scenes and of course, fabulous costumes.

The production design was very detailed yet fairly streamlined, the musical score kept at the appropriate pace, and the editing is as expected considering some action scenes. Although the performance were good, my main gripe is that love and lust were really hard to separate in the movie, and I’m not convinced that Lim truly loved the queen. This might be particularly hard to convey on a movie screen but I’ve seen it executed better before in other films. Frankly put, A Frozen Flower is a movie that stimulates the senses.

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I have to note that I’m seriously still dumbfounded by the constraints sexuality in film and the shock of it. I thought Brokeback Mountain was a good movie and glad that they addressed the male and male relationship, especially during the times, but come on! Homosexuality and sexual ambiguity has been around for thousands of years. Have people forgotten Caligula for craps sake? Love has no boundries and it drives me mad that a confused society still feels the need to deny other peoples choices. LAME.

I wish more movies like this were accepted in mainstream American cinema. I’m definitely checking it out. Thanks Cello.

Anyway *appluades* very well said, and I agree. This movie is a bit more in your face than brokeback, but like I said, its because they’re not as close minded and uptight as we are. Hopefully in time, this changes. Thanks for sharing that Heather!

@Heather That is probably true of mainstream cinema, but how about television series? I’m a big fan of HBO productions and both Six Feet Under(with the character of David) and The Wire(with Omar) have very brave depictions of homosexuality. Of course one shouldn’t forget Rome either when it comes to sexuality in general. If you like sexual ambiguity HBO definitely has series worth checking out.

I was usually afraid of the food that I had no idea what was in it, but omg sooooo yummy! and it’s not like regular yummy that you can make at home, you have to go to a authentic place to eat it. But this was mostly all asian fast food. I ate yummy pork buns, gyozas, and tasted other things that I have no idea what they were lol
xox
tanya

Sounds like another of those epic-y history flicks but The Warlords kinda has me in the mood for that stuff. Plus 8 days of unknown or hard to find flicks I’m still in the mood for something I don’t ordinarily find everywhere.